Gray Cook Movement

Michael Boyle: If you are not yet familiar with the joint-by-joint theory, be prepared to take a quantum leap in thought process. My good friend, physical therapist Gray Cook has a gift for simplifying complex topics. In a conversation about the effect of training on the body, Gray produced one of the most lucid ideas I have ever heard. [Read More...]

More than three years of work has finally made it into print, and as I look back on the project, I still cannot believe the journey. Although the methods we use in Functional Movement Systems have been known for a while, our understanding and explanations have improved greatly over that time. The book Movement: Functional Movement Systems brings all of that work together into one text, a culmination of our efforts to date. [Read More...]

Self-limiting exercises make us think, and even make us feel more connected to exercise and to movement. They demand greater engagement and produce greater physical awareness. Self-limiting exercises do not offer the easy confidence or quick mastery provided by a fitness machine. The earliest exercise forms were self-limiting—they required mindfulness and technique. Idiot-proof equipment and the conditioning equivalent of training wheels did not exist. Great lifters learned to lift great; great fighters learned to fight great; great runners learned to run great. Their qualities and quantities were intertwined. [Read More...]

It is entirely possible to provide groups with a functional warm-up and movement preparation, but you should not assume all would receive efficient and effective benefits. Individuals in the group with minimum of 2 on all movement patterns and no asymmetries would do well with a general movement preparation warm-up based on the FMS. With this template you can expect it to provide a adequate review of functional and fundamental movement patterns. But you shouldn’t expect the general sampling of movement preparation to serve a corrective capacity for those individuals demonstrating screens below screening minimum standards—including 0s, 1s and asymmetries. [Read More...]